Two years into her tenure as Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) CEO Charlotte Shaw has agreed to a new contract that will keep her at the wheel of the agency for another three years.

The BJCTA’s board of directors on Wednesday approved a new three-year agreement that will pay her $240,000 in the first year with 3% pay increases in subsequent years—$247,202 in Year 2, and $254,616, in Year 3, according to the resolution passed by the board.

The new deal replaces the final year of the three-year contract (at $230,000) Shaw signed upon assuming the top job at the BJCTA in 2021. She earned $222,500 in her first year of employment, $225,000 in the second year.

Chair Ted Smith said the board wanted to re-sign Shaw now to stave off other municipalities. “We didn’t want another agency to come into the picture and we would have to look for another director,” he said. “We have to keep improving transit and it takes time. I wish it could happen overnight but reality sets in.”

Shaw was disappointed the board voted to remove a clause in the proposed agreement that would have provided her with six months severance—rather than four—in the event three new board members were named during the term of her agreement and that the newly configured board chose to terminate her.

“I enjoy working with the BJCTA, and have a great relationship with my board,” Shaw said. “They voted for the contract unanimously. I just wanted some security in case there was significant turnover and there was not enough time to build new relationships.

“I remain committed to doing great things for BJCTA,” she added, “We’re steadily growing and doing really well. I really want to make a difference here in Birmingham.”

After serving previously as the City of Birmingham’s deputy director of capital projects—where she oversaw construction of the Bus Rapid Transit system (Birmingham Xpress)— Shaw, who was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, joined an agency that had emerged, under predecessor Frank T. Martin, from several years beneath a dark cloud of dysfunction, turmoil, and uncertainty.

Yet there were still challenges: completing union negotiations, continuing to rebuild leadership and elevate workforce morale; launching and managing the BRT; further evaluating lesser-used routes; expanding services to incorporate evolving public transportation options; and stepping right into chaotic preparations for the World Games 2022 taking place in Birmingham the following summer.

“I came in running,” she says with a laugh.

Moreover, Shaw and the board inherited a 2018 False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit filed by a former employee and board member alleging the agency, under a former BJCTA Executive director Barbara Murdock, who was fired in 2018, didn’t comply with all federal regulations regarding grant funding from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA).

In March a jury ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on some allegations and, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that (BJCTA) must pay $4,315,403.22 in damages.

On Wednesday, Shaw told the board she had just paid the first payment of $2.5 million, the remaining portion will be paid over five.

Beyond managing the aforementioned, Shaw cites among the accomplishments of her first two years the awarding of four vital grants from the FTA—a relationship that required significant repair after the embarrassing turbulent years—totaling $17.66 million. The highest was a $14.28 million grant for a new CNG station, CNG busses, and workforce development.

Shaw also touts negotiating savings on a long-term disability plan ($305,823) and a power-washing contract ($491,852), a reduction in maintenance overtime ($524,502).

“We’ve achieved things unimaginable in these last two years,” she said. “While we are continuing to improve day-to-day operations, we are planning new growth targets and expansion. I still have a very small staff, and we can’t pile too much on them. So, we have to ensure that we set priorities to be able to reach those goals.”

On Tuesday the Birmingham City Council approved $14 million in annual funding for public transit, a significant leap from last year ($10 million) and light years from 2018 when Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin threatened to yank the city’s three-year $10.8 agreement with BJCTA due to its embarrassing actions and allegations.

The next phase of the agency’s evolution, Shaw says, centers on the increasingly popular micro-transit, which is filling the gap between traditional fixed-route public transportation, and the thriving on-demand market.

In October, Shaw says BJCTA will pilot a micro-transit service (MAX On-Demand) that will partner with the city-run Via shared-ride service, which launched in 2019, to provide evening service to supplement Via’s daytime shifts.

Eventually, Shaw hopes to bring Via and Max On-Demand together operationally. “We’re hoping to bring them on board under our umbrella soon, where we can continue to expand our services to other municipalities and other places throughout the City of Birmingham,” Shaw said.

Further in the vein of the growing on-demand market, Shaw says early next year BJCTA will introduce Max Executive, a reservation service.

“These are not shared rides,” she said. “It’s like Uber and Lyft. It is for everyone, anyone who wants to have a single ride and pay for that ride, going from origin to destination no matter where that is. We’re going to start in a small demographic area, so we can control it, and then we’re going to move it out slowly.”

Also, Shaw says BJCTA will launch a new mobile that allows customers to map/track rides from origin to destination, linking various modes of service if needed and intermittent stops. “It will revolutionize the way our customers plan and schedule their trips, and interact with neighborhoods from restaurants, jobs, and shopping along the way,” Shaw says.

On the agenda Wednesday was consideration of the proposed $58 million FY24 budget, a $9 million increase over FY23. Board member Rebecca Carpenter asked to delay the vote until the board sees the five-year strategic plan that is in the works. The board agreed.

The CEO said the plan would not be complete until January and was disappointed the vote on the budget was delayed. The BJCTA’s new fiscal year began on October 1.

“We’ve been working on a strategic plan since I walked in the door,” Shaw says, “but because we had old, outdated systems that needed upgrading, that has taken some time. We still are collecting industry data and observational data and going through a reorg. So, we’re still collecting a lot of the information to be able to build out his long-term.

“You cannot tie a long-term plan to an annual budget because you may or may not achieve your long-term plan,” Shaw said. “Conditions change. So, we have to base our priorities on what we have in operational and capital costs in that year, within those budget constraints. It’s a different and separate bowl.”

As an amicable compromise the board agreed to submit any questions members have about the strategic plan with enough time for Shaw to provide answers at the November board meeting.

In the meantime, Shaw is antsy to continue the next phase of transit’s transformation.

“We are redoing our services that are older, I mean, old,” she says. “Some of these bus stops have been in existence for 20 years. We have to change the services around that because the demographics in the communities have changed. We’re having to redesign and reallocate buses to major routes with more riders to accommodate shorter frequencies. We’re going to accommodate that with more buses and supplement with our MAX services and with VIA around some of the fixed routes and BRT to help with those connections for faster service.”